Tim Dickinson's fantastic expose of the Koch brothers http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/inside-the-koch-brothers-toxic-empire-20140924 in the latest issue of Rolling Stone has gotten plenty of attention. For very good reason: it's a well-sourced, deep dive into the very toxic—literally toxic—business that earned the Kochs enough money to buy up an entire political party. That and the wrongful death judgement, six felony and numerous misdemeanor convictions, the tens of millions of dollars in fines, and the trading with Iran are all included in the story, well worth your time.No one has given it more attention, it seems, than the notoriously thin-skinned Kochs. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/03/1326867/-Evil-billionaires-have-feelings-nbsp-tooIn typical Koch fashion, they don't argue the facts of Dickinson's story. They attack Dickinson, who responds here. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/koch-industries-responds-to-rolling-stone-and-we-answer-back-20140929Here's the nut of his detailed response.Koch, in particular, takes umbrage with my reporting practices.For the record: In the weeks prior to publication, beginning September 4th, Rolling Stone attempted to engage Koch Industries in a robust discussion of the issues raised in our reporting. Rolling Stone requested to interview CEO Charles Koch about his company's philosophy of Market Based Management; Ilia Bouchouev, who heads Koch's derivatives trading operations, about the company's trading practices; and top Koch lawyer Mark Holden about the company's significant legal and regulatory history.The requests to speak to Charles Koch and Bouchouev were simply ignored. Ultimately, only Holden responded on the record, only via e-mail and only after Holden baselessly insinuated that I had been given an "opposition research" document dump from the liberal activist David Brock. (This is false.) From my perspective as a reporter, Koch Industries is the most hostile and paranoid organization I've ever engaged with—and I've reported on Fox News. In a breach of ethics, Koch has also chosen to publish email correspondence characterizing the content of a telephone conversation that was, by Koch's own insistence, strictly off the record. […][I]n the main, the Koch responses attempt to re-litigate closed cases — incidents where judges, juries, and, in one case, a Senate Select Committee, have already had a final say. They only muddy waters that have been clarified by a considered legal process.Dickinson then provides an exhaustive, 14-point taken down of each of the Kochs' complaints about his story, including every instance in which the Kochs do not actually dispute the facts that he has reported, but attempt to obfuscate them and whine about that fact that he reported them. They also don't acknowledge that Dickinson attempted to give them the opportunity to talk to him about his story while reporting, but they refused.The Kochs clearly do not stand up well to close scrutiny, and clearly are not prepared for it. For some reason, probably because they're richer than god, they seem to assume that they should be able to swoop into our political system and attempt to buy it without being subject to close examination. That attitude, along with their long history of abusing people, the environment, and the political system, is doing them no favors. They've made themselves the subject of this election, and if Democrats hold the Senate, it will largely be because the Kochs have made themselves such good enemies.

Yet again we witness blood spilling of innocents, because an unbalanced soul was allowed to legally acquire an arsenal of weapons and use them as he deemed fit.The reason for these shootings that have become commonplace in our country does not matter. Does not matter if the shooter hated his victims because of their religion, their political leanings, their race, or their sexual orientation. As far as I’m concerned, none of us need to know those details, it certainly won’t bring about the return of lives lost.It will simply provide fodder for other unbalanced, mentally ill souls to mimic horrific power grab and notoriety, by brandishing a weapon designed to kill as many people possible, as quickly as possible.And mimic they will.We are fools if we think this epidemic of gun violence will be stemmed any time soon, without serious changes to gun control laws.We have compiled a page of articles on gun violence in our U.S.A.http://waronwilderness.blogspot.com/p/gunsense.htmlGun statistics, Congress members who have obstructed bills designed to stem this blood bath in schools and churches, N.R.A. lobbying influence, and some pretty callous comments from GOP candidates seeking the American presidency.Please, if you have time, read through this information, discover how your congressional Representatives and Senators voted concerning gun legislation.Then vote for common sense gun safety legislation, when you have the opportunity to do so in November 2016.Personal freedoms that have been misinterpreted by those hiding behind their twisted version of the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, do not trump the right for Americans to be allowed to safely attend school, church, or go to work.Think about it, if you remember Sandy Hook.What threat did 20 kindergardeners and their teachers possibly make to the one who ended their lives?That day was mass murder of innocence.Not self defense by the shooter.If these unbalanced souls intent on mass murder purchase their guns legally, then somewhere, the system is broken. If Chicago, Illinois, with one of the strictest gun regulations in the country, still leads the U.S.A. in violent gun deaths, the system is broken. If all we can say is that the victims have our thoughts and prayers, yet our elected "leaders" choose to do nothing, then the system is broken.We have to change this by voting out the politicians who place the gun industry's profits and political influence above the very lives of Americans they swore to represent when they were elected to office.Thank you.~ Vote4Wilderness

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

This makes sense. We, those who wish gray wolves to inhabit the U.S.A. again, and those who see gray wolves as a threat to their way of life and their livelihood, would do well to reach a compromise.We have been conducting a wolf war for 40 years now, and the gray wolves have paid the ultimate price.Far too much wolf blood has been shed.Time for a truce. Our wolves deserve some peace.

What do polarized politics within the U.S.A. Congress have to do with conservation of America’s public lands ?

Everything.

@Vote4Wilderness

Vote4Wilderness is a community Twitter account that was created in order to share awareness about the anti wilderness stance that currently exists within the U.S.A. Congress. We have to deal with this until 2016, when hopefully reason will prevail, and we will vote in a change of Congress that will not place special interest alliances over sound science concerning management of our U.S.A. wilderness and wildlife.Hope springs eternal.Being a part of a political movement entails acceptance of the points of view held by all of the individuals working to change the status quo.While we are all working to ensure that Congress does not zip bills through the Senate and House that would destroy our access to public lands and future survival for our wildlife that inhabit our USA wilderness home, we do have some rather stark differences.Some of us hunt and fish.Some of us repel off the face of a mountain.Some of us ski.Some of us kayak and ride river rapids in a raft.Some of us backpack into deep wilderness, far from campgrounds.Some of us simply hike around a campground.Some of us do not hunt and fish. The common shared interest that we have is confronting the very real fear that certain members of this Congress wish to seize, or to sell off our American public lands. http://stalkingtheseam.com/2015/04/22/this-land-was-your-land/http://www.ammoland.com/2015/04/senate-votes-in-favor-of-public-lands-seizure/#axzz3Z8E3VcbE

As citizens of the United States of America, we are not one faith, not one party, not one race.We are the melting pot of the world.A nation of indigenous people and a slew of immigrants who seek refuge, and the hope of prosperous, peaceful lives for ourselves, our children, and our children yet to be.At the end of the day, we simply wish a chance to survive, to live to see another day.So, this is where the recreational hunter and the tree hugger realize that they are fighting for the same thing.Odd bedfellows we make, but the goal of KeepItPublic binds us together.Let’s vote out those in Congress whom wish to divide us, and to sell off our American wilderness, our home, our heritage.Vote for Wilderness in 2016.Thank you.Photo: Bunkerville